Where Is Your Content?

One would hope this would go without saying, but as designers we are slapped in the face more often than we would like when clients do not have their content ready from the beginning. The nerve!

What are we mind readers?

There is no possible way, short of pure luck, that one could create a site that would work with any client without first seeing two things:

• Their brand
• Their content

You just can’t do it, effectively. Obliviously, if they do not have a brand, this might open a whole different box of awful, depending on your design skills, but usually can be quite rewarding. Working within a brand can cause some strife, as it will typically set the mood for the entire site.

More important though is the content. The content tells us everything we need to know about the client. Where they have been, where they are going, what is working, and what is not. By obtaining the content first, it allows us to use our best judgment to help the client see which style of layout will work best for them. With the help of some simple thumbnail sketches, gray box comps, or other methods, we can quickly come up with a visual representation of their ideal layout.

If they left it up to us, lord knows what they would get. That is why I would rather have a client that is proactive about their design. There also is a fine line between proactive, and bothersome (some might have other words or phrases to describe them).

I would be awfully cautious of clients without any content for you to work with. Avoid phrases like such:

• Eh, just make it look really nice. I need room for content.
• I need lots of room for that menu to expand
• What is the largest image I can fit? I have some from my digital camera I would like to upload directly…
• Sitemap? Is that something Google offers?

Heck, I would even rather have a link to an SWF and copy all the content myself! Give us something to work with!